The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) announced on May 14 that it supports House leadership for reaching a bipartisan agreement on housing legislation and pushing back against the Senate’s version of the bill. The group said the House proposal removes a key provision from the Senate-passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which would have required institutional investors to divest single-family homes built for rent over seven years.
The issue is significant as lawmakers debate how best to address housing affordability and supply in the United States. The TPA argues that limiting investment by large firms will not solve underlying problems in the market.
Ross Marchand, Executive Director of TPA, said, “TPA applauds House leadership for refusing to rubber-stamp the Senate’s housing bill. The Senate version includes sweeping restrictions on large institutional investors in single-family housing, and the House version wisely pares these restrictions back. America’s housing crisis is a supply crisis, and vilifying a wide swath of housing providers would only make it worse.”
Marchand also said, “Institutional investors account for less than 1% of the total U.S. single-family housing stock and are buying less than 2 percent of all homes, while local land-use restrictions, permitting delays, and costly regulations remain major barriers to affordability. Targeting investors may score easy political points, but it will not pour foundations, speed up approvals, or lower construction costs.” He added that further restrictions could reduce investment in new rental communities at a time when families need more options.
Marchand continued: “House leadership is right to demand and put forward a better bill. The path to affordability runs through more construction and less red tape, not federal micromanagement of who may own or finance housing. The House is rightly focused on reforms that expand supply and make it easier for builders and investors to provide homes. We urge the Senate to follow the House’s lead and pursue reforms that expand affordability rather than advancing counterproductive restrictions on investment in housing.”
Washington D.C.-based Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation is a non-profit organization advocating for government transparency by educating the public through research about excessive taxation and spending by all levels of government; its current president is David Williams.
